Radiation-cured materials, adhesive

This technique is used for the production of radiation-cured coatings, adhesives, and inks. The process is not accompanied by the release of heat, which is particularly important in the case of heat-sensitive materials, e.g., wood, cardboard, paper, plastics, etc. Various radiation sources are used for this technique, among which UV and EB are most useful. 

Pressure-sensitive adhesives are the essential components of adhesive tapes and labels. They are polymers with permanent tack, usually applied on substrates (plastic/metal films, siliconized papers). To enhance their tack, compounds with high inherent tack are added, for example, resins, plasticizers. Pressure-sensitive adhesives reach their adhesion on the material to be bonded by contact pressure, from which the term pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) derives. Apart from electron radiation, also UV-radiation curing described in Section 4.3.2 is applied in adhesive tape manufacturing. The monomer molecules to be polymerized are applied, in liquid form, to the substrates to be coated by rolling and are continuously cured to a polymer layer within seconds under a UV-radiation source. Depending on their composition, predetermined adhesion values can be adjusted. The adhesive tapes can be subsumed under the systems shown in Figure 5.4 ... 

Radiation cure adhesives are beconlng Increasingly Important for structural material applications. In order to obtain optimum performance and process efficiency, It Is necessary to analyze these materials using several techniques. Thin film applications have been successfully characterized by traditional methods such as Infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis. This Investigation Includes comparison of traditional methods and mechanical spectroscopy for characterization of structural adhesive applications. In addition, mechanical spectroscopy provides viscoelastic data dependent on structure property relationships. 

Storage Protect from light refrigerate store away from heat store 4 C Uses Crosslinking agent in inks, adhesives, textile prod, modifiers, photoresists modifiers for castings, polyesters, fiberglass, or radiation-cured prods. in dental composite materials, prosthetics, sealants Manuf./Distrib. ABCR Aldrich Alfa Aesar Monomer-Polymer Dajac Labs... 

Continuous scans of modulus versus temperature utilizing the DuPont Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA) has provided a comparison of the high temperature service capabilities of radiation-cured experimental formulations of a vinyl-modified epoxy resin. Shell Epocryl-12. These scans were compared to data obtained when the same materials were applied as adhesives on aluminum test panels, radiation-cured with an electron beam, and lap shear strength tested at discrete temperatures. The DMA instrument utilizes a thin rectangular specimen for the analysis, so specimens can be cut from blocks or from flat sheets. In this case the specimens were cured as sheets of resin-saturated graphite-fibers. The same order of high temperature stability was obtained by each method. However, the DMA method provided a more complete characterization of temperature performance in a much shorter test time and thus, it can be very useful for quick analyses of formulation and processing variables in many types of materials optimization studies. The paper will present details of this study with illustrations of the comparisons. 

The second means of transforming a liquid adhesive entirely into a solid without the loss of a solvent or dispersion medium is to produce solidification by a chemical change rather than a physical one. Such reactive adhesives may be single-part materials that generally require heating or exposure to electron beam or UV or visible radiation (see Radiation-cured adhesives) to perform the reaction, and which may be solids (that must be melted before application), liquids or pastes. The alternative two-part systems require the reactants to be stored separately and mixed only shortly before application. The former class is exemplified by the fusible, but ultimately reactive, epoxide film adhesives and the latter by the two-pack Epoxide adhesives and Polyurethane adhesives and by the Toughened acrylic adhesives that cure by a free-radical Chain polymerization mechanism. 

The largest application of radiation-cured adhesives is for dental procedures (see Adhesion in dentistry restorative materials). Originally UV curable, these have given way to... 

This approach is already utilized widely in radiation-cured adhesives, urethane and epoxy adhesives, and other areas. Here an oligomer of a particular type, e.g., polyurethane, is terminated with functional groups which are subsequently exploited to extend the polymer chain or to crosslink the system. Examples of commercial materials include ... 

An interesting modification involves expandable monomers. These materials, synthesized by Dr. William J. Bailey and coworkers at University of Maryland, are spiro monomers, double rings which open and expand on polymerization. They can be useful in adhesives which are based on polymer/monomer solution, such as structural acrylics, radiation-cured acrylates, etc. These monomers can counteract shrinkage on curing, which is detrimental to adhesion. 

Toxicity. While many new materials are added to the adhesive chemist s arsenal, some are being removed as well. Compounds which cause health and environmental concern include ethylenimine, methylene-fcw(o-chloroan-iline) (MOCA), hexamethylene diisocyanate, formaldehyde. Some systems are no longer in use in others, modifications have been made. Thus radiation-curing technology is replacing some types of multifunctional acrylate monomers with alkoxylated compounds, because the latter are less irritating and less toxic. An example is trimethylolpropane triethoxy triacrylate. 

Pressure sensitive tapes and labels are offered with a variety of backing materials such as crepe paper, aluminum foil, fabric, cellophane, kraft paper, cellulose acetate, polyester film, polyethylene, polypropylene, plasticized poly (vinyl chloride), woven glass fiber cloth, or other flexible materials. Pressure sensitive adhesives may be applied from solvent, latex, hot melt, or radiation cured 100% solids systems. A wide variety of coating methods are utilized such as roll coating, calendering, slot die, and transfer coating. 

In solvent-based adhesives 50-70% of the material is lost during cationic curing. Radiation-cured adhesives are ioo% solids and the entire volume is used in the process. So to obtain the same thickness per unit of weight less radiation-curable adhesive is required than solvent-based adhesives. 

FIGURE 2.9 Raw materials consumption breakdown for radiation-cured adhesives... 

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